


I can take a hit

by halfhuman2214



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: Abuse, Daddy Kink, Face Slapping, M/M, OT4, self destructive behavior
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 08:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3481610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfhuman2214/pseuds/halfhuman2214
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>with no warning, Ashton's hand flew across Michael's cheek. Luke and Calum gasped and Michael took the hit. his eyes watered but he let nothing fall out.<br/>"I fucking hate you," he cried and punched his chest repeatedly.<br/>"go to your room, Michael," he held onto his wrists and gripped tightly. Michael whimpered at the pain and he ran off to his room, slamming his door. Ashton groaned, feeling guilty that he had slapped him, but he was still angry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I can take a hit

**Author's Note:**

> So I took this particular passage from clemmingshirwin's Daddy's Boys, and I asked why Michael took the hit so wall mainly because my mind had already ran away with it. So this entire thing cae from the paragraph in the summary.

with no warning, Ashton's hand flew across Michael's cheek. Luke and Calum gasped and Michael took the hit. his eyes watered but he let nothing fall out.  
"I fucking hate you," he cried and punched his chest repeatedly.  
"go to your room, Michael," he held onto his wrists and gripped tightly. Michael whimpered at the pain and he ran off to his room, slamming his door. Ashton groaned, feeling guilty that he had slapped him, but he was still angry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The slap rang throughout the room. Luke and Calum gasped as Michael took the hit without flinching, his head turning to the side with the force behind it. You could tell it hurt by his eyes watering, but he let no tears fall. No, he wasn’t going to just stand by and be a punching bag like he did with his mom and everyone else. “I fucking hate you,” he cried punching Ashtons chest repeatedly.

“Go to your room, Michael,” Ashton said catching his wrists and gripping tightly. Michael whimpered in pain and ran off to his room, slamming his door behind him, as soon as he was released.

Ashton groaned, feeling guilty that he had slapped the younger boy in the anger he was still feeling. He knew the pale boy couldn’t take as much of the physical stuff like Calum and Luke could. He needed cuddles and reassurance before and after usually. Ashton didn’t know why, but he had a sinking suspicion based on how Michael reacted with the hit. Which just made Ashton feel like trash.

Michael wasn’t a violent person, but dear lord his mother was. She couldn’t hold her liquor, nor did she know her limits, and she was a very angry drunk that drank to forget. The first time she hit Michael was the day his father packed up and left, unable to handle his mother anymore. He was 9. She didn’t even apologise. Michael didn’t fight her because she was his mother and he felt like he deserved it. He sunk to his knees as images of his mother slapping him like Ashton just did played through his mind. Ashton had always picked up on the fact it took time for him to be able to take hits like that. He had to be in the mindset for them, if he wasn’t he went right back to his youth. He remember his mom hitting him repeatedly before locking him in the cupboard under the stairs for hours after he didn’t get the dishes done before he went to school. He remembers his mom pressing a lit cigarette to the palm of his hand when he didn’t have dinner made for them when she got home. She hit him because he cried, then didn’t let him have food for 2 days. He remembers when he was 14, and too big to be in that cupboard, but there is where had been for the majority of the day, legs bent at awkward angles and cramping. There were tears running down his face and his chest felt tight, but he didn’t make a sound. He feared what his mother would do to him. His body was stiff, covered in bruises and dried blood, he had been locked in there right after she got done beating him. He remembers losing track of time and dozing off exhausted from the fear and panic. He remembers waking up to loud banging and his mother yelling “you’ll never find the no good brat.” There were more shouts and footsteps on the stairs. He beat on the door, fists sore from when he had done it earlier, and started crying for help. He doesn’t remember much, just flashing lights, white rooms and his aunts worried face. The last one confused him because his aunt lived in Sydney Australia not London England. In the end his mum went to jail, his aunt moved him to Sydney so he could live with her, he met Calum and put the past behind him.

He dated the wrong kind of people though, at 15 when he got his first boyfriend, the kid was addicted to all sorts of drugs and had a temper. Michael took the brunt of his temper, taking the slaps and insults. Eventually the kid dumped him when they were 17, saying something about how dick was nice but not Michaels. Calum picked him back up from that then, and Michael told him everything in a drunken confession. His abuse, his fears, his thoughts. After that whenever Michael fell for the wrong type of guy, Calum pulled him away. But Michael had a type, abusive assholes. 

Calum had found Luke and Ashton first. He had a college class with Luke around the time that Michael had been with his last boyfriend. Luke introduced Ashton to Calum as his boyfriend. Michael only ever saw them in passing, always either going up to his room or going out with his boyfriend. The bruises hidden away from prying eyes. One day both Luke and Ashton asked Calum to join them in their relationship, turning it from a couple to a 3 way relationship. Calum easily fell into calling Ashton daddy and being submissive. He drifted from Michael, spending more and more nights in one of the spare rooms in Ashton and Luke's house. Michael spent more and more nights with his boyfriend hitting him and cleaning himself up. Calum saw very little of Michael due to how things were happening, and Calum didn't realise anything was wrong with this current boyfriend until they spent the day together for the first time in months. Michael looked like hell, he had bags and his eyes were red rimmed. He was moving stiffly like his body had been in one position all night long. His hands were hidden inside his sleeves, no sight of skin. Calum did see the painful burns on the tops of Michaels feet. Michael had simply said he spilled a pot of boiling water while he was barefoot. Calum didn't believe him but let it go. Which turned out to be a good thing because an hour later Michael softly said "I left Mark this morning." Calum stayed silent knowing Michael would continue and he did. He talked about how Mark would hit him when he did something wrong, and Michael could handle that because it was only those times that he hit him. But when he bought the wrong kind of pasta yesterday Mark flipped out and dumped the pot of boiling water on his feet before locking him in the closet. He told Mark they were through when he was let out this morning. That was was a pattern with Michael. He could put up with any abuse until his abuser did something that reminded him of his mother he left them. Calum had thought Mark was actually a pretty okay guy before this. 

Being locked in that closet had definitely hurt Michael more than anything else. He had never fully recovered from all the time he spent in the cupboard when he was younger. The pale boy flinched at every loud noise, one time even letting his sleeves fall from his hands to cover his ears, revealing the bruised and bloodied appendages. Calum softly took them in his hands taking in the damage. Two fingernails were missing and there was so much dried blood that Calum couldn't figure out where it came from, underneath all the blood was bruise upon bruise. He got the first aid kit and started cleaning the boy up. There were more bruises of various ages all over his torso, and sickening fingertip ones at Michaels hips. At least there seemed to be not open wounds save for Michaels feet and hands and even those wouldn't scar. Mark would be just a memory in his head, not on his body. Calum had called Ashton and Luke to bail on their date the next day under the reasons that his roommate just had a bad break up. 

The first time Michael met Calums boyfriends he was a shaking mess. He had barely left the house since his break up 2 months ago. Getting the assignments and notes from a student and either emailing his work to the teacher or making Calum bring it in. His teachers working with him so he only had to leave the house on quiz and tests days (they all knew something had happened they just didn't know what). The bruises had faded, but the memory had yet to. They rang the doorbell, even though Calum had texted them to walk right in (And told them multiple times that if they text ahead and he says yes they can come over and walk right in. Always walk right in, but Luke wasn't raised like that. But usually Ashton had the door open before he could) causing Calum to curse as he opened the door and disappearing into the apartment some more without a proper hello. Ashton was ready to make Calum make it up to him when he walked back in, one arm thrown over a curled in on himself Michael. He introduced everyone, which had yet to be done because in the 6 months they had been in the 3 way relationship and the 2 months of friendship before that they had only seen each other in passing. Calum convinced them to watch something funny and joined the pair on the couch, letting Michael have his space.

They continued like that for months, Michael never fully recovering. As worried as Calum was, he could only put up with listening to so many one night stands. He started spending some more nights back in Ashton and Lukes house. Worrying about Michael from afar with no one to talk to about it. He hesitated telling his boyfriends because it wasn’t his place to spill Michaels story. Calum could see the bruises this time around, Michael wasn’t trying to save face and pretend he was okay this time. It all came to a head between Calum and Michael when Mark came knocking on the door, supporting a shaking Michael and said something along the lines of “I didn’t mean to make him like this. I was stupid, but he’s going to end up killing himself doing this. I blame myself, but only you can fix him.” Calum locked Michael in the apartment, grateful it was summer break. It took all summer, but Michael was Michael again, very embarrassed, but back none the less. He ended up spending more and more time with the 3 way couple. 

Luke breached the subject first, not that Michael knew that, he asked Calum if Michael was open to a polyamorous relationship. They had already been doing the movie night in with Michael and meeting up for coffee dates, so was there really a big jump to kissing and other things? Calum didn’t know to be honest, and he said as much. So Luke kissed Michael, who blushed and kissed him back. It slowly progressed from there, one on one dates with each of the boys, group cuddles, kissing them. It might have been weird, but it was at least healthy. Calum watched Michael for any signs of discomfort. He seemed lost on how to react some days, but for the most part he was okay.   
Calum slept with him first, one because that's just how it ended up being and two so he could see if there were any scars that they would have to explain since the boys didn't know about any of Michael's past. There were some scars, but it wasn't to bad and they should be able to be explained as kids being kids if they were asked about. Luke slept with him next, no major disastrous events happened. When it was Michael and Ashton, Michael let a muffled "daddy" out. He was used to his dates reacting badly and waited for the hit. Instead Ashton stroked his cheek and gave and soft "that's right princess." Internally Ashton was excited, they kept the daddy stuff to a minimum around Michael, like he didn't see it at all because they didn't want to scare him away.

Things progressed from there, Ashton was a good daddy. He paid attention to how they all reacted to him. Calum loved to be spanked when he did something wrong. Luke was a cockslut. Michael loved cuddles and affection. Ashton gave all of them what they needed. It took some finesse with Michael, Calum and Luke could go straight into their punishment but with Michael he had to cuddle and reassure him before and after. Ashton just assumed he was a finicky person. Calum stopped worrying so much and eventually they moved in with Luke and Ashton and things were happy.

++++

Calum got up from his spot and went to Michaels room without even a second glance at anyone in the room. He could hear the sobs from the hallway and his heart broke. He slowly opened the door and stepped into the room. Michael flinched away from the door and cried out. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Don't put me in the closet. Please don't put me in the closet."

Calum forced Michael into his arms and rubbed his back. "Shhhh. Its okay. I will not let him put you in there. And if he fucking tries I will take you away from here. I promise." He started rocking him. "You need to calm down babe. He isn't your mother, or anyone else. He loves you like he should. He treats you well. That was a one time thing, he won't ever slap you without warning again. I know it and he knows it. And I swear to you if he turns out like them I will take you and Luke far away. He's not your mom." Calum repeats that last sentence over and over again in a soft voice, trying to gauge how far back Michael has fallen. 

Ashton peaked his head in just as Michael was falling asleep, exhausted from the days events. Calum was still repeating "He's not your mom" over and over again. Ashton stood there silently, stomach sinking at the meaning behind the words. Calum maneuvered the boy so he wouldn’t wake up in an awkward position and Ashton took a seat next to Calum. "I didn't know. I swear." Ashton says quietly.

Calum nods. "I know. That's why we're still here. If I thought for a second you..." Calum pauses when Michael shifts. "Well we wouldn't be here, including Luke."

Ashton nods. "How badly did I screw up?"

Calum shrugs. "To be honest I don't know. Not as bad as you could have. His mum used to lock him in a cupboard, and when his last boyfriend did that he- he broke. Hopefully he'll just be flinchy, which is easier to get him out of." Calum opens up Michaels hand, palm up. "He doesn't talk about her much. There isn't really much to say, she wasn't a good woman. I've only met his aunt. He told me everything once, back when we were 17. I got him drunk, which could have been a very bad thing apparently. He won't tell you, but his dad walked out when he was 9, tired of putting up with his mother. Michael didn't know that and stupidly blamed himself and took the beatings. She abused him from the day his dad left till he was 14 and the landlord called the cops, for an entirely different reason actually. Locked him in the cupboard for stupid reasons like not doing the dishes, always after beating him as well." He dipped Michaels hand so Ashton could see it. "Started burning him when he was 11 and he didn’t have dinner made by the time she got home.” 

Ashton took the sleeping boys hand. “Our first summer together, when we were just a trio? His ex made him like that?”

Calum nodded. “Michael had a type. Abusive and asshole. Mark, he seemed alright. Come to find out he hit Michael whenever he wasn’t happy. He knocked over a pot of boiling water onto his feet, then locked him in the bedroom closet. That was the worst any ex had done, taking him back to something he had never fully gotten over. Michael started sleeping around. Mark actually brought him home one day. He admitted that he had a problem, he said he was sorry and that it was too late for him to fix it. So I did. We only left the house to go to the store or any other necessities. He wasn’t better, but he was okay enough to go to class that semester. And well the rest you know.”

Ashton got up, trusting Calum to take care of the broken boy. He needed some time to think.

++++

Calum slowly walked out to the living area, Michael trailing behind him. Michael ended up sleeping until 3 in the morning, the crying and panic had exhausted him. Calum had woken up to Michael screaming and thrashing about, caught in a night terror. He had managed to calm down the scared boy and get him to go back to sleep. Now it was nearing 9, the other 2 members of their relationship were awake and shuffling about. It had taken some finesse, but Calum had gotten Michael to agree in leaving the safety of his bedroom. 

The conversation stopped as soon as they had entered, Ashton looking down in shame. Michael hesitated, and after a small nod from Calum, sat down next to Ashton intertwined their hands. Ashton looked over to him shocked, not expecting this behavior from him. Michael didn’t make eye contact, keeping his eyes cast down. 

Luke and Calum had disappeared into the kitchen to make some food. Ashton suspected that it was so they could talk it out. “Hey Michael?” Ashton asks. Michael violently flinches away, leaving only their hands touching. “Sorry, sorry.” Ashton says dropping his voice into a quieter tone. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I didn’t mean to hurt you, I should have thought before I acted.” 

“It’s okay.” Michael mumbles. 

It’s not, but Ashton doesn’t correct him.

++++

Living life with Michael is hard, they’ve had to replace almost half of their kitchen ware because Michael startles so easily now. It was really coming to light that he hadn’t been okay before, only muddling through his reactions. Calum had to sit down and explain everything to Luke after the fourth or fifth time he had accidentally made Michael break a dish and the paler boy had broken down into tears. The blue eyed boy took it in stride and made the most leeway with Michael. 

He started by simply making his presence well known before he even entered a room. Which in turn made Michael react less violently. He always warned him before he made any sort of physical contact, giving him a chance to mentally prepare himself and or pull away if he wasn’t comfortable with it. Eventually Michael started curling up with someone late at night to keep the terrors away, and while he woke up freaked first thing in the morning, it didn’t take much to calm him down anymore. 

It wasn’t much, but it was progress. But he made some at least, and he was better off than he had been before. He still had his moments where he got lost and scared. They still needed to warn him before coming into a room or touching him, but he had finally felt loved. He had finally found a healthy relationship.


End file.
